OSU Wins Bedlam Wrestling, Claims Big 12 Title

The top-ranked Oklahoma State wrestling team topped Oklahoma 19-18 Thursday night to win its second Beldam matchup of the season and claim the Big 12 regular season championship.

The Sooners led 15-13 with just two matches to go.

OSU took the advantage off a big performance by Chris Perry who notched a 20-5 technical fall victory over Kyle Detmer in the 174 pound dual to give the Cowboys an 18-15 lead.

In the final bout of the night at 184 pounds, OU's Erich Schmidtke edged OSU's Chris McNeil 4-3 to knot the score 18-18.

Since the overall bouts were split 5-5, the dual was decided by the second tiebreaker criteria-- which OSU won, 1-0, by total falls or technical falls due to Perry's win.

"I think we all knew it could be a tough match coming in, and it lived up to it," coach John Smith said. "In the end, it went five and five. The difference was the tech. fall."

The Cowboys jumped out to an early 6-0 lead after Blake Rosholt (197) and Alan Gelogaev (HWT) each earned decisions. OU stayed within striking distance leading up Perry's match with wins at 125, 141, 157 and 165 pounds.

OSU's Jordan Oliver earned an 11-2 major decision over No. 11 Jordan Keller at 133 pounds, while Jamal Parks won 6-2 over No. 17 Nick Lester at 149 pounds.

"We fell behind a couple times this year and we bounced back," Perry said. "That's the thing that national championship teams are going to have to do. We did it at Iowa, we did it against OU, and we did it against Missouri. That's a good thing to have, to know that you're not going to have to panic, but we can't have those next week."

This season is the first time in Big 12 history, the league's four wrestling squads are playing a six-match, double round-robin Conference schedule to determine a regular season champion. Since the other three conference teams have two or more losses, Oklahoma State is guaranteed the outright championship.

OSU is now 15-0 on the season and 5-0 in Big 12 play with one conference dual remaining.

The win also improves OSU's all-time series advantage over Oklahoma to 130-26-10 while the Sooners move to 13-5 on the year and 3-3 in conference.

OSU returns to action Sunday Feb. 19 hosting the NWCA National Duals final round at 2 and 6 p.m. at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma Bout Results
OSU earns one team point on the second criteria - total falls/tech. falls (1-0) - to win the dual, 19-18
197: Blake Rosholt (OSU) dec. No. 16 Keldrick Hall (OU); 11-8
285: No. 3 Alan Gelogaev (OSU) dec. Kyle Colling (OU); 11-6
125: No. 8 Jarrod Patterson (OU) MD No. 14 Jon Morrison (OSU); 9-0
133: No. 1 Jordan Oliver (OSU) MD No. 11 Jordan Keller (OU); 11-2
141: No. 3 Kendric Maple (OU) MD Julian Feikert (OSU); 12-4
149: No. 2 Jamal Parks (OSU) dec. No. 17 Nick Lester (OU); 6-2
157: No. 14 Matt Lester (OU) MD No. 16 Albert White (OSU); 11-3
165: No. 16 Bubby Graham (OU) dec. Dallas Bailey (OSU); 8-4
174: No. 3 Chris Perry (OSU) TF5 Kyle Detmer (OU); 20-5; 6:34
184: Erich Schmidtke (OU) dec. No. 20 Chris McNeil (OSU); 4-3